Regret
by DaRKaIsTAr
Summary: A short story on my idea of how Shiki died. It contains some facts from what is mentioned in the game, so don't worry.


Ai: Just a quick The World Ends With You fic. XD I wrote this for english class, where the theme was supposed to be something like 'A Terrible Mistake'. Or something like that. Then before handing it up, I thought that maybe I should post it up here. Please review, peoples!

Disclaimer: I don't own TWEWY, because if I did, I would make Sho Minamimoto have more mathy quotes! =D I love his quotes!

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It was the most terrible mistake that I had ever made. Nothing could be worse than it. And it was one that I would regret for the rest of my life.

I gazed at the body of my friend lying on the road, covered in blood. All around me, more and more people were gathering around, murmuring. But I hardly noticed their presence. They weren't what mattered now.

"If you were still alive right now, you wouldn't forgive me, right, Shiki? I caused your death. No one would be able to forgive their murderer," I whispered before I was dragged away roughly by a police officer.

Shiki and I were best friends. Although she looked plain and ordinary, she was amazing with a needle. We had met each other a few years ago in school when I saw her sewing a stuffed toy, which she later named 'Mr Mew'. We became fast friends, and that was when she told me that her ambition was to be a fashion designer when she grew up. However, she also confessed to me that she was not good at designing clothes and that this fact saddened her very much.

I did not want her to feel down, so I suggested that I would design the outfits while she sewed them. This seemed to cheer her up a lot, because she agreed happily and we promptly started working on a design together.

Although we worked as partners for a few years, and we were best friends, I couldn't help but feel jealous of her sewing skills. I knew that there was no way I could possibly be as good as her when it came to sewing. And it wasn't just that either. She had what people called 'an eye for detail'. Whenever I had made a normally unnoticeable mistake in the designs, or if I had accidentally left out some details, Shiki would have spotted and corrected it, improving the original design immensely.

Somehow, though, I could sense that she was jealous of me as well. I had a feeling that it was because she felt inferior to me. People were always saying that Shiki looked extremely plain compared to me, and that I had a lot more friends. To top it off, despite the fact that it was Shiki who wanted to be a fashion designer, it was me who was designing all her outfits, while all she did was sew.

Luckily, despite our jealously for each other, never once was our friendship strained. Until that one fateful day. Our class was to put up a play for a school fair and our teacher, having heard of Shiki's sewing capabilities, appointed her to be the designer for all the costumes. Normally, we would have worked on them together, so I was a little shocked when she told me gently that just for once, she would like to come up with the designs all on her own. I understood her intentions, so I agreed. But as the day for the school fair drew closer and Shiki had yet to come up with a good design, I decided to encourage her.

Walking up to her table in the classroom where she was frantically erasing away a sketch on a piece of paper, I said, "Shiki, I have something to say to you." Seeing her nod her head to show that she was listening, I continued, "You're just not cut out to be a designer."

Shiki stopped erasing and her gaze shot from the paper to me. The expression on her face… She was horrified to hear that I had said such a thing. She trembled, then her expression changed to a pleading one, as if asking if I was just joking with her.

That should have been my cue to stop and pretend that it was a joke, but like a fool, I did not. "Shiki, it's the truth. You're not meant to be one."

So suddenly that I flinched, Shiki stood up quickly, her chair toppling to the ground, and dashed out of the room.

I was stunned. "Shiki, wait! I didn't mean it that way!" I cried, but it was too late. I clenched my teeth tightly together and placed a hand to my temple, frustrated, not at Shiki, but at myself. "Eri, you idiot. You were supposed to encourage her, and not upset her even more." It was supposed to be an honest encouragement. I had only meant to say that she was more of an excellent seamstress than a designer, but she must have thought that I was putting her down. I set the chair upright again, sat down on it and picked up the paper she had been sketching on earlier. The paper was extremely thin and likely to tear due to repeated vigorous erasings, but some of her previous designs were still faintly visible. I had never actually seen any of her designs before, despite our years of close friendship, so I examined them closely, curious. Her designs were beautiful. It wasn't that she was a poor designer, I realized, it was just that she had too high expectations for herself.

"Shiki's a way better designer than what I have ever been," I said to myself, resolving to apologize to her in person as soon as possible. Pulling my bright pink cell phone out of my skirt pocket, I sent her a text message.

"I'm sorry for what happened. I really am. But it's not sincere enough with just a text message, so why don't we meet up by our usual spot at the park at seven at night today? Please do come," it read.

I spent the rest of the evening waiting by the statue in the park, which was where we usually went to after school hours. Time flew by. Soon, it was four o'clock… five o'clock… six o'clock… seven o'clock. But Shiki still did not arrive.

"What was I thinking?" I said sadly to no one in particular. "There's no way Shiki could possibly forgive me, not after I said something so mean to her."

"Hey, Eri! Over here!" a voice shouted. Looking at the direction from which the voice had come from, I was surprised. Over at the street directly in front of the park entrance where I was, was Shiki, holding Mr. Mew and waving to me as if nothing had happened between us earlier. All that separated us was a road. Making sure that it was safe, she started to cross the road confidently. But that was when I saw it. A car, not braking at all, speeding across the road and, to my horror, heading straight for Shiki. There was no way she could get out of the way in time.

"Watch out!" I screamed. Shiki finally saw the car, but she froze rooted to the spot in shock as her death approached her. Then it happened. The car smashed into my best friend and zoomed away. I screamed and dashed over to where my friend lay. "Shiki, wake up!" I sobbed, tears running down my face. "You can't just go!"

A thought struck me. It was me who had wanted to meet Shiki, effectively leading to her death. If only I had waited until the next day, she wouldn't have had to die. It wasn't the driver of the car who had killed her, it was me. I had murdered my best friend.

Now there was definitely no way she could possibly forgive me, her killer, but if only there was a way to bring the dead back to life, I thought, as a single lone teardrop splashed onto Shiki's lifeless face.

Just one way.

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Author's Notes:

Not much else to say, just that I hope you'll review and comment on this please! The review button needs more love!


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